Want to have some fun with your iPad or iPhone? Starting next week, I'll be teaching a workshop at the Hill Center, on Capitol Hill, called "Apps for Artists," featuring the amazing photographic and image manipulation tools now available for these devices. It's scheduled for Thursday evenings, September 6, 13, 20 and 27 at 7:00 p.m. I hope some of you can attend.

Each session will begin with a demonstration of some of these remarkable tools, and then you'll get to try them yourself. We'll be using the iPad for the demos because that platform has the most apps and options, but many of these tools are available now for droids and other tablet formats, or will be soon. The Hill Center has WiFi, so you can download apps on the spot.

I've been wanting to try some of my favorite images adapted as scarves. Here are the first few that have gone through the process. I'm gearing up for a kickstarter project, and scarves might be a good reward. Any Thoughts? Let me know which one(s) you like!

These three images are included in the Online Silent Auction for the Art League in Alexandria, VA. To learn more about this event, go to The Art League.

"The online silent auction of faculty work, the third event in our “30-Something” Summer Series, is only a few days away! We’re thrilled to present such a wonderful collection of works by our generous and talented faculty. Participating in the auction is a fantastic opportunity to own a masterpiece by a member of our talented faculty while supporting The Art League’s build-out at the Madison Annex. All proceeds from the auction go to fund the build-out project."UPDATE: The auction is over, and was a big success. Many thanks to all who participated!

I'm on the road again, visiting with family and staying with a sister who has a bead mania. This bead (and it's immediate family) jumped into my hands, demanding attention. It is a hand-made centerpiece bead, with transparencies, beautiful colors, iridescence, linear elements, and bubbles. In short, just about everything that fascinates me. So far, I've only taken 163 pictures, but there are still several more directions to explore. I don't know the ... sculptor? who made it, but thank you.Besides the bead, this photo involves two different containers, water and sunshine. No special effects.

The first one, "Big Roll, One", is printed at 8 1/2" X 11", and the second, "Blue Streak", at an impressive 12" X 18". They're both from the Copper Dreams series. The final piece, "Beach Glass - Sunrise, Coral" is 12" x 16" is from the Beach Glass series, which has made only a few blog appearances so far. It is a HUGE series, so it's taking a very long time to process. It's so gratifying to see how well the prints turned out at these sizes, especially the Beach Glass, which has a lot of subtleties that that tend not to come through as well at smaller sizes. It's also tricky to make the prints, because the images have always been seen on a bright screen as a light source - light and bright. As prints, they become a reflective surface - duller and darker. It's usually a long process, with many tweaks and trial proofs, to produce an acceptable print. I'll talk a lot more about the issues of producing prints in a future post.

"Triple Cherry Vortex"

It’s cherry season, so my Cherry Collection has been quite active, with new photographic arrivals and new finished pieces. The cherry on the right in the triptych is also a solo piece, a previous “Catch of the Day” titled “Cherry Goes Down a Wormhole,” although I’ve rotated and flipped it to make it work better in this sequence.Camera: iPhone 4S, fussed with, corrected, and assembled in Photoshopno filters or special effects.

"Cherry Plays Solo Chess"

A hand painted tray, a shiny silver urn sitting on it, and a little phone-camera that can get in underneath the urn. And of course a bright red cherry to top it off. This would make a great jigsaw puzzle!Camera: iPhone 4SNo filters or special effects

"Primordial" from the Elements series

This is the same photograph as the last post, altered a bit. It was a really satisfying picture originally, and I could have just left it alone, but where's the fun of that? I'm a painter, so I started fussing with it. I stretched it, resized it, added more on three sides, adjusted the colors and levels and focus, took out a little rock, added several more, strengthened some areas, faded others out a bit, darkened some things and lightened some, worked a lot on the water and the stripes, made the front shape into more of a crawling reptile with faces on both ends, added other faces, highlights, and just had a jolly good time. Spent way too much time on it, but now I like it even more. Had it printed really big. Got to look at it for a long time, which is the part I like. Changed the name because of the creaturely aspect of the front shapes.It's interesting how often there is an almost spontaneous evolution of images into something else. Some images have spawned whole family lines. Many more would like to.

"Salt Water Taffy"

About the Artist

Nancy Freeman is a native of California who lives now in Washington, DC. A lifelong artist, she paints portraits and other commissions for a living, which keeps her traditional skills tuned and supports her decades-old obsession with computer art, and pastel painting.She is currently using her 15th, 16th, 17th, and 18th computers, but remembers when Dick Tracy had to make do with a two-way wrist radio.